


Ghosts that we thought we knew

by Rainydaysunrise



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben's backstory?, Character Death, Gen, Hospitals, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, really depends on how you read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 02:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18023363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainydaysunrise/pseuds/Rainydaysunrise
Summary: “You don’t get it, Diego.”“What don’t I get?”It had been a normal Tuesday night, everyone out and doing fuck all while their “father” sat in his study. Typical and boring. Nobody was home and even if they were, they wouldn’t be talking. It was just how it was now.Then he had gotten a call from the county hospital. A police officer had found two young men, both unresponsive, in the middle of a crowded street with nobody doing anything. He had said that he needed to come immediately and that he was the contact information in the phones in their pockets.Or something along those lines.





	Ghosts that we thought we knew

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thank you for reading and have a great day! <3  
> This is quite dark and if death is a sensitive topic for you, please click away, I understand. 
> 
> I know we didn't get a whole lot of Ben's backstory... well, ever in the show or comic so I did this. Enjoy!

“You don’t get it, Diego.” 

“What don’t I get?” 

It had been a normal Tuesday night, everyone out and doing fuck all while their “father” sat in his study. Typical and boring. Nobody was home and even if they were, they wouldn’t be talking. It was just how it was now. 

Then he had gotten a call from the county hospital. A police officer had found two young men, both unresponsive, in the middle of a crowded street with nobody doing anything. He had said that he needed to come immediately and that he was the contact information in the phones in their pockets. 

Or something along those lines. 

It had been pretty blurry until he had gotten here and ushered into a private room where Klaus was now, awake and breathing. Whereas, the other boy, Ben, was not. 

He watched as his brother stared at his hands, refusing to make eye contact. 

Simple yes and no answers to questions from physicians and nurses.

It wasn’t like him.

“Nothing.” His voice was rough and hoarse. 

“Yeah, I’m going to call bullshit.”

“Call it all you want then.” 

Diego lifted his hands in defeat and grief. He wasn’t going to fight. “God… I don’t understand why you won’t talk to me.” 

“Because you wouldn’t understand.” 

Klaus’s eyes drifted to the corner of the room where Ben sat in the empty chair, watching him and shaking.

His eyes were teary. 

“I don’t understand, Klaus. I don’t understand. I don’t understand.”  
His voice echoed like he was speaking through glass. 

“Did I do it? Did I finally do it? Am I free?” It resonated off of the inside of his skull. 

It caused the lightning to crackle and the thunder to rumble inside of him. His skin ached suddenly, like he’d been shocked. 

Ben’s voice was still echoing though he did not speak. 

“Klaus.”

Ben’s body was hidden in the dark clothes, nothing exposed. He knew how he had died, he knew that kind of way sucked and how much it sucked.

“Klaus.”

Ben wouldn’t break the gaze, it was like a staring contest like it was when they were just children. It seemed like it was just yesterday. Like it was only an hour ago. 

Klaus?” 

The man blinked and took a deep breath and then another. 

Diego noted that it was like that of a proverble drowning man coming to shore. He watched as Klaus struggled to breathe for a few moments, rubbing his boney back through the gown. 

“Hey… Did I lose you?” He knew Diego was kidding to cover his concern. 

“No one has heard from either of you for two days...Then suddenly, I get a call that you’re in the hospital and Ben is in the morgue. I have a mind to call mom right now.”

“Don’t call mom.” 

“I’m going to have to eventually, after we’re done. But I need to know...What happened to Ben?” He was using the voice that he used with hostages and small children. 

And now Klaus. 

God, it was always Klaus. 

He watched the way his brother tensed, he knew that Allison, Luther, and Vanya were on their way. 

No one was going to tell dad. Not yet. 

“It… was a mission.”

Klaus was lying, he knew this.

“A mission?”

“Please, Diego.” The plea trailed off.

“Okay.” 

His hand ran over his brother’s back again, following the gaze to the empty chair in the corner and ghosted his fingers over what he knew was Klaus’s own version of punishment.

Diego knew.

Ben knew.

And Klaus knew.

And Klaus would take it to the grave with him.

Because even though they had all promised to save everyone from monsters. Ben couldn’t be saved from the only monster he was terrified of.

Himself.


End file.
